MSF Slams Global Ebola Response, Warns Inaction Dangerous

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been on the ground in West Africa fighting Ebola since last January-February. They've been screaming for help for months, and took major heat for calling it an "epidemic" back in March. But they're still carrying the ball. Why?

Well - the WHO says it's not an "emergency response" organization. Western leaders aren't leading, just following Twitter and doing their fortress thing. In West Africa, a number of useless -and unenforceable- quarantines have been imposed by inadequate governments - leaving residents without food and water, and still unprotected from the Ebola epidemic.

Meanwhile, reported cases are up to 2,473 with 1,350 deaths - and the WHO admits their figures likely show just the tip of the iceberg. Special adviser to the health minister of Sierra Leone, Joseph Fair, reveals, "At a bare minimum, I would guess they're probably off by 20 percent."

And MSF is still begging for help. Like they said in March, if this epidemic is not contained in West Africa - then it WILL become a global crisis. As MSF's director Lui says, "Rich countries around the world have to help — not by closing borders but by strengthening capacity on the ground. “If people don’t understand that, then we’re going to be facing something much bigger than what we’re facing right now.”

Aid Group Slams Global Response to Ebola Outbreak

“We are completely amazed by the lack of willingness and professionalism and coordination to tackle this epidemic,” Brice de le Vingne, the operations director of Doctors Without Borders, told the Financial Times. “We have been screaming for months. Now the situation is even worse – we are today on the verge of seeing an entire country collapsing.”

….Doctors Without Borders (MSF) describes the current situation in Liberia as “catastrophic” and continuously deteriorating. The country has closed its borders, declared a state of emergency and on Tuesday it imposed a curfew on the main slum area in the capital of Monrovia, where Ebola panic has lead to public unrest.

Fear of infection has compounded the disaster, with workers and patients fleeing Monrovia hospitals in recent days, leading to an almost complete collapse of the health system and causing increased risks for other diseases such as malaria.

….“Leaders in the West are talking about their own safety and doing things like closing airlines – and not helping anyone else,” Brice de la Vingne told the Guardian

….A million people are currently residing in quarantined regions and are at risk of not receiving adequate supplies of food and water

Emergency response to Ebola outbreak lacks leadership

….“People think the only way to make a difference in an Ebola crisis is to come with a cosmonaut outfit and work in an isolation centre.”

Another factor has been the pervasive fear, which Liu herself has experienced. She said her family was terrified when they heard she was going to West Africa — a reaction she didn’t even encounter when she went to Syria. And now that she’s home, her friends won’t invite her to dinner, she said.

“I think right now there is an Ebola psychosis,” she said. “The reality is people are scared.”

Even within MSF, recruiting for Ebola has been difficult. It doesn’t help that MSF has been unable to secure guarantees from governments that they will fly their own citizens home for treatment if they get infected while responding to the outbreak. Airlifting an Ebola patient requires permission not only from the receiving government, but from every single country the airplane flies over, Liu added.

“We’re all facing some dramatic administrative blockages right now,” she said. “It’s really hard to ask someone, ‘Go and put your life in danger — but if you ever get sick, we can’t guarantee we can bring you home for help.’”

No MSF worker has ever died while responding to an Ebola outbreak and Liu credits the organization’s rigorous procedures for keeping her people safe. But she admits to being worried, given how hard her staffers are working and the exhaustion permeating the organization’s ranks.

Liu says rich countries around the world have to help — not by closing borders but by strengthening capacity on the ground. “If people don’t understand that, then we’re going to be facing something much bigger than what we’re facing right now.”

How Much Bigger Is The Ebola Outbreak Than Official Reports Show?

….says Joseph Fair, an infectious disease doctor who has been acting as a special adviser to the health minister of Sierra Leone. "At a bare minimum, I would guess they're probably off by 20 percent," …

… Roseda Marshall, a Liberian pediatrician who is president of the Liberia College of Physicians and Surgeons. She's currently in the U.S., trying to raise funds and support to help fight Ebola.

"Obviously, the statistics we're getting is just scratching the surface," Marshall says. "When we say we have so many suspected cases, so many probable cases, so many confirmed cases, that's just the ones who are coming in for testing."

Like they said in March, if this epidemic is not contained in West Africa - then it WILL become a global crisis. As MSF's director Lui says, "Rich countries around the world have to help — not by closing borders but by strengthening capacity on the ground. “If people don’t understand that, then we’re going to be facing something much bigger than what we’re facing right now.”

I don't see people jumping to volunteer. Not only is this disease deadly, there's no AVAILABLE treatment. The next batch of zmapp will take months.

Then you get what another thread called racism due to the areas eating habits, funeral practices and leariness of western medicine.

There is the belief that this won't happen here. Not that it can't get here but, if it does we won't have the same responses.

originally posted by: Iamthatbish
I don't see people jumping to volunteer.

No. Sounds like MSF is mostly alone - the other charities have pretty much pulled out.

“We’re all facing some dramatic administrative blockages right now,” she said. “It’s really hard to ask someone, ‘Go and put your life in danger — but if you ever get sick, we can’t guarantee we can bring you home for help.’”

No MSF worker has ever died while responding to an Ebola outbreak and Liu credits the organization’s rigorous procedures for keeping her people safe. But she admits to being worried, given how hard her staffers are working and the exhaustion permeating the organization’s ranks.

a reply to: soficrow

I would assume that anyone on location is not just a tough person but also the kindestest most caring a person can be.

My understanding of the environment and keeping safe precautions would make me have a heat stroke. Then they have a shortage of supplies...

I hate to say it but, these fighters are fighting a lost cause. If they stay uninfected and save anyone that's wonderful. But all the workers seem to be getting this too.

originally posted by: Iamthatbish
a reply to: soficrow
....I hate to say it but, these fighters are fighting a lost cause. If they stay uninfected and save anyone that's wonderful. But all the workers seem to be getting this too.

I too have great respect for MSF, but sincerely hope their fight is NOT a lost cause. Because as they warn, this epidemic really does need to be controlled on the ground in West Africa - or "we’re going to be facing something much bigger than what we’re facing right now."

Gotta love Laurie Garret.

Funding, Coordination May Affect Fight Against Ebola

….Needed urgently are medical technicians, nurses, doctors, epidemiologists and trained health care workers.

The U.S. government is deploying a number of agencies, including the Department of State, The Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Department of Defense. They are assisting with communications, supplies, and technical and medical expertise.

….Laurie Garrett, a Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, ….says budget cuts may have diminished the capacity of the World Health Organization (WHO), one of the leading institutions involved in the emergency response.

"Let's keep in mind, WHO has been running on a budget deficit," she said. "The World Health Assembly voted in their last session to cut the emergency epidemic response capacity of WHO. And if it weren't for the announcement from the World Bank that it will put $200 million into the effort, we basically would have an effort on the ground in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia funded on fumes, volunteer donations, and, you know, a few hundred people who are being unpaid to risk their lives in the middle of this outbreak."

www.google.com...EOs

Organic Spanish Rosemary, and Spearment, plus some Oregano for good measure, essential oils of course.

I can't help but think this is not even close to an issue for developed countries.

The most obvious that pop out of my sleep deprived mind are:

Superior care/handling/quarantine

Lack of cultural conflictions involving spreading the virus

Ability to stock up, hole down

Pockets to infect devleoped countries? Sure. Anything even remotely close to a global pandemic?

Naw. Highly improbable.

Look at all the goof ups, and barriers to proper care/handling/quarantine, and we're what half a year plus into this?

If this is telling of what's to come it's... business as usual.

a reply to: pl3bscheese

I don't mean to be insulting but I trust MSF' and Laurie Garret's judgment more than I do yours.

Nice neon heart tho!